The varsity girls basketball season is coming to an end. After a long season of twists and turns, the team is shaping up for their run in the playoffs. One of the biggest challenges the Benet team had to overcome was being put into a new sectional. The IHSA moved the team in mid-January to compete with new, more competitive teams such as: Montini, Whitney Young, Kenwood, Simeon, St. Ignatius, etc.
Coach Joe Kilbride’s team consists of one senior starter with the other four being underclassmen. When asked about how his players have improved as a team, Coach Kilbride said, “…our underclassmen have been learning what is required in terms of the day-to-day effort to be successful at the varsity level…Our younger players have gained some valuable experience, and I am hopeful that this will pay off for us during the playoffs…” The team is still continuing to work on the basics, but they have learned to commit and put ‘we’ before ‘me’.
As the regular season progressed, the varsity girls basketball team had multiple wins against ranked teams. The girls beat teams such as: Nazareth, Bolingbrook, HF, South Bend -in Indiana-, St. Joe’s, and Naperville Central. The team still has a few hard matchups to overcome before the playoffs begin. Another problem they had to work through was injuries. Three key players were out with ACL injuries; and one player, Madison Demos, has missed the entire season. Also, senior Tsimba Malonga missed a month of the season with a knee problem. Now that most of these players are back on the court, the girls are playing catch up so that they are ready in time for the playoffs.
Although the team still has more to work on as the playoffs inevitably grows closer, Coach Kilbride is confident in his players’ abilities, saying, “This is probably the deepest team we have had in all my years at Benet.” He believes that his team will utilize this depth in the playoffs, and it will put them in a position for success next year.